March 31, 2014
After watching Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron’s latest flick That Awkward Moment, my movie-going companion and I decided to expand the definition of the nuanced film term “dick flick”. Previously understood to be the opposite of a “chick flick” (which is a movie that typically deals with romance as a plot device and is meant to appeal to female audiences). That Awkward Moment has the same formula as a typical 20 or 30-something dating life movie: a small group of friends simultaneously finding themselves and what they really want in a partner through their individual plot lines, all while living in an amazing city with cool jobs and great apartments. Except That Awkward Moment’s protagonists are all dudes!
If there were a reverse Bechdel Test this movie would fail, because these three friends, (played by Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller) only talk about girls. It starts with Efron’s and Teller’s characters exemplifying the trope of the virile metropolitan man who is only trying to have as much sex as possible without being tied down by commitment, which (big surprise) gets thrown out of whack when they each find girls that they want to commit to.
Haseena Manek 